African Tourism Boards Often See the American Traveler as White
Photo Credit: The Indaba conference in Durban, South Africa, in May 2018. Some African tourism boards are neglecting the black American market. Skift / Dana Givens
Skift Take
While there’s interest among African tourism boards in marketing actively to black Americans, these boards are missing opportunities by not diversifying their strategies.
As the black travel movement gains traction in the U.S., with a marked interest in heritage trips to African countries, why do some African tourism boards neglect black Americans in their marketing materials? This tendency was evident in May at Indaba, one of Africa’s largest travel shows in Durban, South Africa.
One underlying reason is that some tourism boards group their U.S. efforts into one box dominated by a generic white American, instead of examining the country’s diversity and targeting smaller markets accordingly.
“We do not have a special program for the African American yet,” said John Ssempebwa, deputy CEO of Uganda Tourism Board. “We are i
